Tuesday, August 31, 2004

If only it was that easy! The sun is actually shining.Archie has gone off to play with Jack and family for the day. He took a trowel with him so obviously some digging involved! We might pop out later to town to get some bread etc and check out the library and drop things off at the post office.Nice mail today from Celia, Dietmar Vollmer in Cologne and Jim sent a cd of the 5,6,7,8's, the great japanese girl combo who play on Kill Bill 1. My favourite track Woo Hoo is also on an advert over here with lots of people kicking a ball down the street. No idea what it's advertising so obviously a useless ad. but a great catchy song with minimal lyrics!

Monday, August 30, 2004

We almost gave up on the Moss Farm boot sale today as we sat in the car park with the rain lashing the windscreen. We drove off to the next one at the Kwik-Save car park and as we did so the sun came out! The K.S. was a rather feeble affair with half a dozen stalls all dripping with fresh rain. I found two DVD's - Jackie Brown and Kill Bill 2 (pirate copy) for £1. They seem like good copies too. We turned back to Moss Farm and squelched over the field to the remaining cars who had braved the elements. Good job we did as we found more bargains in the shape of CD's by The Inkpsots, The Waterboys,Billie Holiday and Jah Wobble. Also 20p tapes by the Bonzos, Peter Sellers, The Goons and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers.
Hazel found two new metal things - a cooking thermometer with weird writing on- levels for CRACK, Small CRACK and CHIPS! Also a strange copper gadget with a roll of ebrasive paper inside?
Archie was happy with his Buster and Beano annuals so we all came home with something - a perfect boot sale!
Hazel took her Mom and sister to the Kwik-Save boot later after tea and toast.
We attempted a brisk walk in the afternoon but the heavens opened again and so we stayed in to snooze, watch tv and type our blogs ( in that order).Also opened up new Grand Prix levels in Burnout 2 and unlocked the rally car and a "mystery vehicle" ( hope it isnt a rickshaw!).

Sunday, August 29, 2004

I never get tired of watching Laurel & Hardy films. Some of their shorts have been on over the "summer" holidays here on the BBC. I have a lot on video but lost track of exactly which ones so some are duplicated I'm sure. This card is a series which I'm doing through the mail - passing back and forth. This one is a collaboration between me and Mark Greenfield.

I decided the boot sale would be a dismal affair being wet and windy so let Hazel and Archie have a lie-in. Later the sun came out briefly so we decided to take Audrey (Hazel's sister) over the boot sale at Weaverham but no cars to be seen just an empty wind-swept field! We went to check out the new Lidl store instead which was quiet thankfully. Very similar to Aldi- lots of jars of german sausages in brine and other weird european concoctions.
I wonder if it's possible to save these blogs to disc? It would be nice to save them somehow if ever they should shut down or go bust! I'll have to look into it.
The sun is out again now. Archie is playing Burnout 2 and Hazel is reading her last half of Join Me.I have the new Bryson book to start but it's a whopping great tome and rather forbidding but Hazel says it's a riviting read.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Not really. I just love this tin ray gun from the Robert Opie collection. I used to collect such things but they are very expensive now, even for modern reproductions. We ocassionally find a battered tin toy at a boot sale but few and far between. Saw some chinese tin toys in Basildon of all places but they wanted £20 for them. A quiet day playing draughts and blogging. No post as yet. None yesterday either. Decided to start a new assembling booklet called FLOSS (details in comments ).

Thursday, August 26, 2004

I've never been to Invermess but it looks like a nice place. Those piles of cornflakes give it an added charm and make me feel hungry. Crunch! Hoots mon! Tossing the caber will never be the same again ,up to your knees breakfast cereal.

I just realised I hadn't uploaded any images that I'd made for ages so this is just to make ammends though it is quite an old stamp design from the mid 80's. Still one of my favourites. Altered comic with envelope added and the" A.1.Post!" put in the speech bubble. I must dig it out and use it on my envelopes. I have over 1,000 rubber stamps but only use a handful on my envelopes and postcards. It's a shame they are just gathering dust. I will endevour to use them more often.

Ink ran out of PC printer. it's a Lexmark and the ink cartridges cost £25 each! I tried to get a re-fill (£15) from the re-fill shop but the cartridge was the wrong sort. Typical. Anyway, Hazel thinks the cheapo stationers sells them for £20 and they seem to work o.k.
Not sure if you get a full cartridge for £15- they look a bit dodgy in there. The ink has been threatening to run out for ages. It's gone through all the colours of the rainbow and now just a pale green stripe, great for Angel fish, zebras and camoflaged lettering but not much good for anything else!
Took Kill Bill Vol. 1 back to the library. Couldn't see anything else worth watching. Just remembered I recorded "Don't Look Now" some weeks ago and this may be the oppertune moment to watch it as Archie is staying over at Jack's tonight I think ( unless he gets the jitters and wants to come home ).
Not many bargains but did find some plastic boxes with lids for keeping the shoes and other junk dust free under the bed. Also some for the mail art archive thats being nibbled by mice. I dread to look in the coal shed to see what they've been up too! When we were away out neighbour, who was looking after the rabbit said a mouse popped out of the rabbit feed box and made her jump. He was wearing one of those screaming skull masks. He ran under the shed door laughing maniacally.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Another rainy day here - getting a bit sick of this weather. I was supposed to deliver some collages to a photographer in Chester today but decided it was far too inclement. I phoned her to say I'd send them by post. She didn't seem to mind and even offered to post them back. Up early so took oppertunity to watch Kill Bill Vol. 1 that I borrowed from the library. I was pleasantly surprised at the humour in it. The 100 minutes or whatever just flew by. I look forward to Vol. 2 though I've heard it's not as good. Some nice "Animal Noises" songs from a french DJ in the post today. Some unusual songs that I've not heard before and old favourites like Spike Jones' "Old MacDonald's Farm" and The Singing Dogs rendition of "Jingle Bells". Spend afternoon compiling a reply of similar oddities.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Although I was a bit reluctant to go and see Lambeth Walk and our old haunts in London it was good because it made us realise how we could have stayed in London and re-housed by the council into a pokey flat with an enormous rent. Now we have our feet on the bottom muddy rung of the property ladder and we moved at exactly the right time because the house prices have quadrupled and we couldnt possibly have afforded a leaky shed, let alone a house now!
It wasn't the places but people we missed.
How nice it is to be "home" and to know this. I thought I was missing something but even my favourite place, Brick Lane market, has declined rather so they say and the South bank is more crowded than ever. The traffic noise! I'd forgotten just how polluting it could be! Cheshire does indeed seem a tranquil haven far from the madding crowd.

This is a wonderful place and off the tourist route but a short walk from County Hall or The Houses of parliament, over lambeth Bridge is this green oasis full of weird gardening tools and videos of mechanical shrubbery racing around?! A great vegetarian cafe too. when we were there you could get a lunch for Â£3-50 and sit outside amongst the herbs and next to this delightful knot garden. Capt. Bligh of the Mutiny On The Bounty fame is buried nearby in an ornate tomb as well as other notables. The Archbishop of Canterbury's Palace is next door which is private most of the year but the gardens are open on certain days for fetes etc. Sometimes a nun will pop out the side gate and polish the brass bell push and letter box.

Monday, August 23, 2004

This was one of the highlights of the saatchi gallery in the old county hall. I was loathe to add to the multi-millionaires coffers by paying the exorbitant entry fee but the cheery Doug waving his clipboard was such a good talker he could convince coal miners that the dust was indeed a powerful aphrodisiac. He also said we'd get a free T-shirt each which clinched it as we were rapidly running out of clothes! Hazel and I had wanted to see Richard Wilson's room full of sump oil for some time and this seemed the ideal opportunity being in "tourist mode" and keen to see what old Charlie had spent his money on lately. Mostly it was very bad paintings and some interesting sculpture including a whirling lightbulb in a cage ( can't rememeber the artist) which threw crazy shadows onto the gallery walls as it whizzed round. The Hirsts and Emins were as dull as they look in the tabloids. Other favourites included work by Ron Mueck, especially "Mask" which is incredibly detailed and scowls at you like a huge giant's head and Grayson Perry's daft and rude vases covered in graffiti and transvestites.

Just back from a fun packed week in London - visiting friends and showing Archie the sights, sounds and smells (pew!) of the metrollopis. We managed to cram quite lot into three days including visits to the London Eye ( twice! once very early to beat the crowds and 9 p.m. to see the city all lit up) The Tate Modern (briefly, no sign of Adele) The National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, St. James' park ( for ice creams and play on swings) The Garden Museum ( great for cheap healthy lunch in secluded garden) by Lambeth Bridge.Roots and Shoots (oasis in middle of Lambeth to see new biuldings and pond etc. ) Lambeth Walk refurbishment. Imperial Wart Museum to see the 1940's house. The Cut. Nice turkish restuarant behind County hall. The Sacchi gallery ( expensive but interesting to see the oil room and Brit Art cobblers at close hand) Free T-shirts! Hamleys Toy Shop - Arrrrggh! Archie enjoyed it but it was hell! and a few other things I've forgotten no doubt. Took four rolls of film. Trains going a nightmare. Hazel had to sit in luggage rack! Coming back a little better though noisy "scouse" family were a pain. Stayed at my sister's in Basildon for three days too. Went to nice boot sale and bought all kinds of junk. My sister is bringing it up with her when they visit soon.Weather was great and now we are home it is raining again.

Monday, August 16, 2004

In the morning we took Keith, Dini,Oliver and Millie to the boot sale at Verdin Park. It was a nice sunny day so plenty of cars and stalls full of junk to sort through. Keith found a waterproof wax jacket that might be useful on their trip to Mull. Oliver found a massive battered but working remote-controlled car. He and Archie had fun later having races up and down the pavement outside much to the annoyance of the neighbours I"m sure! Archie didn't get much but I found him a driving game for the PS2. I was delighted to find an LP by Roy Hudd called Hudd's Dunnit! A live cabaret recording. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but it has one of my favourite Roy Hudd songs on it where he mimics the Singing Postman called "Peeping Tom". After a quick cuppa and some picnic making we drove off in search of the Chelford Steam Fair. Got stuck in a traffic jam at one point and discovered it was the queue for the Shootin' and Fishin' fair at nearby Wuzzock's Hall! Eventually manages to find the steam fair but lost Dini who was following in her car with Millie and Oliver. A mix up with the tickets so I had to get out at the gate and wait for Dini to arrive, which thankfully she did about 5 minutes later. I was bursting for a pee by this point and rushed off to find a toilet through the massive field of cars that was streaming in through the entrance. This where it all went horribly wrong. Instead of going back to where I last saw Dini and Hazel I wandered around the fair in the vain hope our paths might cross.
The steam, the acrid smoke, the belching flames, the roaring spitting roasting heat! and this was just Hazel when she found me again two hours later! Seems they had all waited for me at the entrance and had a picnic hoping I might turn up but I was still wandering around like an idiot being bombarded by steam organs and wurlitzers, gallopers,big wheels, shooting galleries, penny slot machines and traction engines belching smoke etc.
Anyway, we all went to the fair after a brief stop for drinks and frisbees. I went on the big wheel with Archie and Hazel and some of the others went on the steam gallopers. Another photo would be good here but I don't know how to do it.
Keith and Dini have departed now for the Highlands and Island of Mull to brave the rain and winds of bonnie Scotland. Camping? Are they mad?!

Saturday, August 14, 2004

We have all the lights working and full power! Hoorah! Mind you it took most of this morning for the two electrickery fellows from the gas company ( don't ask!) to trace the fault which they eventually found under the floorboards in our bedroom. Not risking a hernia by moving our massive oak wardrobe they asked our permission to saw through the boards and fiddle around with the wiring running between the joists. It was fascinating hearing them shout instructions to each other as they tried each socket in turn to narrow down the place where the fault might be. Obviously a good problem solving exercise for them. Anyway,it got sorted and now we can listen to the radio, download, watch tv, do the washing, boil the kettle and make ice cubes all at the same time! You just take these things for granted, until they suddenly vanish!

Friday, August 13, 2004

I wrote a big long spiel to go with this earlier but it wouldn't download for some reason so I'm not wasting my time again. This is a still from one of my favourite films "The Rebel" starring Tony Hancock. This is the bit where the nagging landlady played wonderfully by Irene Handl tries to get into Tony's garret to see what the noise was all about. He's secretly been carving a "hulking great thing" out of concrete bolted together from "bits of the town hall, the war memorial and the library steps" and he calles it "Aphrodite At the Water-hole"!

Hazel and Archie have gone off to Frodsham to look at the Beanos and Dandys etc. whilst I wait in for the blinkin' gas man that promised to come in the morning to fix our wiring but it's now gone 1pm. So a typical Friday the 13th. More rain and a mad rabbit knocking seven bells out of her hutch ouside. She obviosly doesn 't like being shut in either! I keep looking out the front window in the vain hope of seeing the engineer's van pull up outside but all I see is the drizzle and the slugs eating Hazel's sun flowers to ribbons!

Thursday, August 12, 2004

After the check-up at the chiropodists (Archie's verrucas seem to have gone thankfully) we dropped him off at Jack's house and drove onto Frodsham down some very pretty country lanes. The weather has been kind to us today for a change but we kept a wary eye on the grey clouds in the distance. Frodsham is a quaint small hilly town near Warrington with lots of old shops and a small market that runs the length of one side of the main street. I bought some cord trousers for £15 as the ones i have are showing the signs of wear. I hate clothes shops so buying them from a cheeky market trader with a scouse accent is always preferable! Hazel got Archie a Dandy annual we thought he hadn't got but later discovered he had , so another swap for his collection. I found a CD of songs compiled by Morrisey including some oddities like Sir John Betjeman ,the poet laureate that was.Coming home we popped into a complex of old barns or cowsheds converted into craft shops and antique stores. Lots to see but very expensive. The massive shelves of Beanos and Dandys would have Archie drooling! Unfortunatley they were £6 each for shabby copies and much higher for older annuals in good condition. Hazel bought a small tin ,"Dunlop Tube Repair Outfit" which looks like a post box from a distance. Also some cheap postcards. Last of the big spenders! I checked out the old 78's and lps in a record shop but the prices were out of my range, spoilt as I am by boot sales and charity shops. A nice place to look around though, treating it as a big sprawling museum of nick-nackery!

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

It does remind me somewhat of that amusing song by Flanders and Swann. First the gasman came to test the fuses and tinker with the wiring and he dicovered he needed assistance so he went away and another gasman came and tested all the fuses and wiring and managed to trace the fault to somewhere under the floorboards. Before he left he managed to get several sockets and the downstairs lights to work thankfully. Another chap is due on Friday to pull up the floorboards to find the dodgy wire that is causing the cut-out switch to cut-out. As long as he doesn't hammer a nail through the water pipe we shall be alright!

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

The rain is bucketing down again! This must be one of the wettest Augusts on record so far. We were hoping to take a trip to Jodrell bank. Now the lights have just gone off! damn!
(Two hours later) Well after fiddling with the fuses I've managed to get some of the lights and the fridge back on. We've had this trouble before during heavy rain and called in the electrician to try and trace the fault. We thought it might have been the door bell so that got moved into the porch so not affected by rain anymore. Also we got him to tidy up the wiring in the leaky shed. None of these things seemd to work but the electricity came back on eventually when the sun came out and dried everything off, so we are still none the wiser. Another electrician is coming later to try and sort the problem out. Hazel thinks it might be the junction box on the side of the house where the main electricity comes in. She could be right, although the electrician seemed to dismiss that idea last time for some reason.

Monday, August 09, 2004

You certainly need a swimsuit if you go out today- it's chuckin' it down! Hazel and Archie have gone to get the car M.O.T'd and buy some new shoes for Archie in readiness for his new school term. I was going but the rain put me off. I've been making a tape for the car - recent hits and old favourites to while those long journeys. Not much mail. A Banana Rag from Anna and our dentist informing us that he's going private and dental checks and treatment will double in future. Great!Finding an NHS dentist these days is almost impossible. Archie lost a baby tooth whilst chewing a toffee last night. He still insists on putting it somewhere prominent for the Tooth Fairy to find despite being nearly 12 years old! Still, money is money and it's not a threepenny bit these days, no, inflation has forced the price of a baby tooth up to £1.50!

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Yes, it's boot sale time again and more silly games added to the list of games I've started and have'nt finished. The sequel to Little Big Adventure was very engaging in a gallic kind of way, so finding this original game on Playsation at the boot sale today was very pleasing. Not many other bargains but Hazel found some more strange metal objects for her collection which will no doubt find their way onto her blog before long. Phew! It's hot today. I hate turning on the grill in this kind of weather but we have some greek haloumi cheese to brown and eat with tomatoes and basil. Yum!

Saturday, August 07, 2004

Eddie Zung, the inventor of many curious and wonderful things including the dark bulb ( for sucking the light out of greenhouses) the electric flannel, the rotary pimple manipulator and the left-handed ossilating trowel.But enough of him, what about my day so far? Well, I walked into town before it got too blinkin' hot and went round the usual haunts. Found two scratchy records, a portuguese comedian(?) Manual Morais and two episodes of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again from the late sixties? This was one of John Cleese's radio outings together with Bill oddie, Graham Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor etc ( The Goodies ) was usually very funny and very daft. I just had to go and point out the spot where Sweep, the goldfish, is buried so that Archie can mark the spot with some shells taken from the bottom of his bowl.

Friday, August 06, 2004

How simple it used to be in the good old days when the post was delivered by the same postie at exactly 7a.m. every morning (give or take a few minutes). Now, alas, with the new super improved mail upgrade we get the post delivered at any time between noon and 5.p.m by a motley group of ever changing deviant postmen on uni-cycles, bath chairs, roller skates, invalid carriages, Reliant Robins, flying bedsteads and diving suits. Letters are crammed through the letter slit with steel toe capped boots, fire tongs, jack hammers and boxing gloves. The mail is broken and bent, bruised and stained, hopelessly lost and mis-directed, covered in jam and put through shredders, violated in many horrible and disgusting ways.
Thank you so much the Royal Mail for improving things so wonderfully!

A typical example of the humourous pen and ink illustration by W. Heath Robinson, although this particular drawing wasn't in the fine exhibition we saw yesterday. You can access more examples at www.walkerartgallery.org
Also we saw an exhibition of puppets in the museum next door (Liverpool Museum?) which had a massive TV showing clip of old puppet shows from the 50's and 60's including Thunderbirds, Andy Pandy, Stingray and the inspiration of this blog, The Flowerpot Men.

Thursday, August 05, 2004

We managed to get to Liverpool today and saw the new Tim Lewis works which were amazing and worth the trip alone. Some lovely and bizarre ideas ranging from chairs being pulled along by crutches, prosthetic arms signing Dali's autograph, mad spinning stroboscopic optical sculpture in darkened rooms like machines from a bizarre science fiction film. Very funny, very weird and beautifully made.In the next room were a selection of watercolours and ink drawings by Britain's foremost eccentric illustrator, W. Heath Robinson. I will have to put him on a seperate page. I have a headache from the humid weather and looking too hard at things.

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

The week has just whizzed by! I seem to be in a constant state of je-devu - raking through the same tatty boxes of records and junk! Not much to be had in a much diminished market. I found an old PS2 game called Smugglers Run and a record by The Grumbleweeds recorded live in Manchester for a BBc radio series back in the 80's. I just listened to one side and it made me smile a few times - daft northern variety club humour in the Mike Harding, Les Dawson mould.
Hazel found some more "rude doctor's kit" metal icing syringes and interchangable nozzles with different ends for fancy, plain, wiggly etc. and Archie was happy with his Dandys and a Topper from the 80's also. A bit of a theme going on here? More rain got us back to the car earlier than anticipated.
On a narrow and tiny hump backed bridge on the way there we looked aghast as a huge car transporter full of cars wobbled and scraped the back end as it heaved itself over, scattering oncoming vehicles in it's wake! The sparks flew about 3 feet and the gouge in the tarmac must have been an inch deep. The driver was obviously oblivious or obliviously obvious to all this drama. We stayed a good 10 yards away from the rear end after this and luckily he turned off a couple of miles further on.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

We were hoping to go to Liverpool today but had to postpone our trip because of the foul weather. We hope to go on thursday to see the latest moving scultures by one of our favourite artists Tim Lewis whose work is rarely seen outside London. Also showing at the Walker Art Gallery are drawings by the comic illustrator W. Heath Robinson, another great favourite of ours. We cannot possibly miss this double pack of english eccentricity and humour.

Monday, August 02, 2004

Beeston Castle is only about 30 mins. drive away and one of our favourite spots for a picnic. Amazing views of the Cheshire plain all around as the castle is 500 feet high on a rocky outcrop. In the distance you can see the weather coming from the welsh hills. The cows in the fields below look like ants and the ants look like tiny cows. The Olympic maize maze in the distance looks nothing like the five interlocking rings - maybe it's based on the acropolis? Later, after our picnic we visited the Shire Horse Stud and nature trail nearby and saw lots of chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, goats, swans, invisible red squirrels, cows, sheep and deer. The bumpy ride on the tractor and cart was an experiance my bottom will never forget! School holidays - don't you just love 'em!

Whilst rooting about on Dogpile I was delighted to find this photo of my old infants school in Herd Lane, Corringham, where we lived briefly from 1951 to 1953. The lane itself I remember being quite rural and surrounded by fields and pigs who stuck their snouts through the fence to amuse passing children. The field behind the school had a quarry or lake with white swans gliding across it. I don't remember any of the teachers but these things have stuck in my mind all these years. The school doesn't seem to have changed that much but I imagine all the farmland around has been built upon by now. I also found my next school in Pitsea, where we moved afterwards, but the photo bore no relation to the school I remember. My teacher there was Mrs. Ramsbottom - not the sort of name you forget! She was very nice and once gave me a lead "crossing attendant" as a prize for good behavior. She used to read extracts from Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" stories too , which I enjoyed a lot.

Sunday, August 01, 2004

It's Sunday again so time to get up early for another boot sale - this time over in Frodsham. This is a lovely drive through some pretty countryside despite the many squashed rabbits, birds,voles, squirrels etc. we encounter on our way.
Bargains today include DVD's of Hotel Paradiso with those Bottom boys Ade Edmonson and Rik Mayall, About Shmidt with Jack Nicholson and The Hunted ( which looks terrible, filmed with a super 8 camera in the front seat of a cinema so the people have tiny heads and big bodies!) with Tommy lee Jones. Only a £1 each so can't grumble really. Also The matrix game on PS2 for £3 which seems to play fine.
Hazel got some more metal objects for her collection which no doubt will be finding their way onto her blog very soon.
Archie was chuffed to find the last remaining Beano he's been searching for from the 90's- particularly pertinent for him as it was his birth year - 1992. He also found a few more annuals from the 80's - Dandy, The Topper and The Beezer.
So everyone was happy with their finds and we drove home in the sunshine playing XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" ringing in our ears.

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Flobberlob

A kind of diary, a log, a ramble, nothing to do with the Flowerpot Men. My life as an artist, a collagist, a rubber stamper, a networker, a dad , a letter writer and a postcard maker. Observations about this and that in no particular order.

About Me

I grew up in the home counties around London during the 50's and 60's. Went to several art schools including Southend ,Chelsea and Manchester. Trained as a painter and printmaker but now mostly using collage. Collect novelty songs and old mail art amongst other things too numerous to mention.